Sunday, March 28, 2010

The 100 Day Volunteer Certificates & the Proliferation of Facsimile Abraham Lincoln Signatures!

In the fall of 1864 thousands of Union volunteers who served a hundred days of service that summer were issued a certificate of thanks by the War Department --an impressive looking, partially-printed, engraved document, bearing the signatures of Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, and the President, Abraham Lincoln. Other than clerical editing and transcription on the document, all text on the document is printed, including the signatures of Stanton and Lincoln.

In the century and a half that's followed the issue of the certificate, perhaps no Civil War era document bearing Lincoln's signature has been the source of more confusion and fraud, and subsequently, bought and sold as authentic by seasoned dealers, auction houses, and collectors. Even more disturbing is the trend over the past decade of destroying the certificates for Lincoln's, and to a lesser extent, Stanton's, signatures. Authentic American Civil War documents have been routinely mutilated by a handful of unscrupulous dealers-clipping the facsimile signatures from the documents and selling them as real.


A Hundred Day Certificate for the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin Volunteers

The Hundred Days Men, or 100 Day Volunteers, was the nickname for the short-term, volunteer enlistments mustered in the summer of 1864 for 100 days of service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. These lightly trained troops were intended to free veteran units from routine duty to allow them to go to the front lines for combat purposes.

The concept of the hundred-day volunteer was first proposed by the Governor of Ohio, John Brough, in the spring of 1864. Brough was concerned with Confederate incursions and invasions of the North, such as Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's cavalry raid into Ohio in 1863. Brough's idea was to federalize the state militia into service for a period of 100 days to provide short-term troops that would serve as rear echelon guards and laborers to free veteran units for combat duty. This would increase the number of fighting men in the Union armies campaigning in the South, which, ideally, would achieve victory for the North within one hundred days.

Brough contacted the governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Jersey to do likewise in an effort to raise 100,000 men. They submitted their plan to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and the proposal was immediately approved by President Abraham Lincoln.

In total, approximately 81,000 men were mustered for a 100-day period. Over 35,000 were federalized from Ohio alone. The remaining numbers were primarily from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. These veterans became known as Hundred Days Men. Unfortunately for the North, the primary objective of the Hundred Days Men-defeating the South within one hundred days-fell short by a few months.

Nevertheless, in recognition of their efforts, at the end of their duty the Hundred Day Volunteers were issued a certificate of service by the War Department. These documents, a "Certificate of Thanks," were issued to the tens of thousands of men who had volunteered. They were partially-printed, with "THE UNITED STATES VOLUNTEER SERVICE" arcing across the top margin over an ornately engraved eagle clutching the American flag. There were at least two versions of the document printed. One version recognized the men who volunteered from the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin inclusive; another was issued exclusively for the men of Ohio (presumably because of the high volume of volunteers from that state). Signatures of Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, and President Abraham Lincoln appear at the bottom of the document.


A Hundred Day Certificate for the Ohio Volunteers

Like other partially-printed, original, presidential documents from the Civil War, personal information--names, dates, rank, etcetera--was filled in by a clerk's hand. However, not original are the signatures of Edwin M. Stanton and Abraham Lincoln. Their signatures were prepared from traced engravings onto the printing plate as part of the form document.


The Engraved Signatures of Edwin Stanton and Abraham Lincoln

Over the years copies of the Hundred Day Volunteer certificates have gradually entered the autograph marketplace as authentically signed Lincoln documents. It's understandable why. To the trained or untrained eye, at first glance, without several certificates to compare with, the signatures of Lincoln and Stanton appear to be original. On close inspection, however, what stands out is the contrast in ink between the clerical writing and the rest of the document. The iron-based ink from the clerk's hand has rusted and turned brown and relatively faded with age. Secondary is the uneven flow and impression one would expect from handwritten script. In comparison, the facsimile signatures of Lincoln and Stanton, perfectly imprinted onto the document, are the same color ink and age-toned as the printed text of the document.

Though naïve, unsuspecting, and yes, unscrupulous dealers and collectors alike have bought and sold the volunteer certificates as original Lincoln Documents Signed, in recent years awareness of the printed signatures on the document has grown. The practice of has been stemmed in large part by the informative efforts of honest dealers and auction houses, and websites like the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency <http://www.illinoishistory.gov/signature.htm>.

The practice that does continue, and what dealers and collectors need to be aware of, is the printed Lincoln signatures that have been cut from the document and sold as authentic full Abraham Lincoln signatures. These signatures were sold into the marketplace in the late 1990s and early 2000s by a handful of unscrupulous dealers via the web. The rise of online auctions, in particular eBay, with no checks, standards, or independent, qualified authenticating authority, allowed for the proliferation of the facsimile Lincoln signatures.

The tell tale signs you may have a facsimile Lincoln signature cut from the Hundred Days certificates are:
a) Lincoln placed a period at the end of his name for the engraving
b) The dark, even flow of ink which is common of printed text
c) The faded, browned text common of iron-based ink is absent
d) The full Abraham Lincoln signature




If you're still uncertain check for traces of possible dot removement. There may be instances where a dealer may have tried to remove the dot to make their signature look different, or may have clipped the period off which would render the "n" in Lincoln at the very edge of the right margin.

It is certain that there are many presidential autograph collections with the facsimile Lincoln signature in them. It's only a matter of time before the generation of collectors who acquired these signatures as authentic begin to return them to the marketplace. Every effort should be made to trace back to the originating source of the signatures to compensate the victims down the line. If your Lincoln signature matches the one above return the signature to the dealer for a refund. It is important, at this juncture, for the autograph community to recognize and weed out the facsimile Lincoln signatures from the marketplace. Whether intentionally or innocently, the continued selling of the facsimile Lincoln signature by anyone at any level is a discredit and blow to the hobby.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Autograph Authenticator Looses Lawsuit

The HBO cable television channel won dismissal of a $5 million defamation lawsuit by a Brooklyn, New York handwriting expert. Frangipani, who claims he can authenticate autographs accused HBO television channel and "Real Sports" host Bryant Gumbel of tying him to an autograph forgery ring.

This weeks ruling by Manhattan U.S. District Judge George Daniels in federal court rejected claims by Donald Frangipani. Frangipani claims he has more than 40 years of experience in forensic documents. This experience supposedly includes authenticating sports autographs and other memorabilia by Babe Ruth, Tiger Woods and more.

HBO is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

In his 2008 lawsuit, Frangipani alleged that HBO violated New York State defamation law over a January 2006 "Real Sports" segment, "Forger's Paradise," in which the program portrayed him as an authenticator of choice for a forgery ring broken up by the FBI in 2000.

Frangipani also accused large authentication companies of violating federal antitrust and racketeering laws by conspiring to keep him out of the market.

Among the defendants were Gumbel, who hosted "Real Sports," as well as narrator Armen Keteyian and several producers.

In the 15-page decision, Judge Daniels said the plaintiff failed to show that the authentication companies violated federal antitrust and racketeering laws by scheming to freeze him out of the market, or that customers refused to use his authentication services.

Because Frangipani's federal claims were dismissed, Daniels declined to exercise jurisdiction over the state law defamation claim.

The case is Frangipani v. HBO et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-5675.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

F.B.I. Snatches Autograph Thief!

Over the last few months, William J. Scott of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, an 18 year old freshman at Drew University in New Jersey, was stealing valuable letters while working part time at the University's United Methodist Archives Center. He sold thousands of dollars of letters and F.B.I. agents found others in his dresser drawer after executing a search warrant of his dorm room. Scott was handcuffed when led into the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey for a bail hearing. He faces a $250,000 fine and up to ten years in prison if convicted.

Authorities said Scott, a Drew freshman, worked as a paid student assistant at the Archives Center since approximately October 2009. The Archives Center is home to the official archival repository for The United Methodist Church. Its collection includes records from the various denominational agencies within the United Methodist tradition, and personal papers of several bishops, denominational leaders, and missionaries from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Many of the documents housed at the Archives Center are maintained in a secure storage room that is locked and only accessible to those who, like Scott, are given keys by the Archives Center.

Included among the papers stored in the secure storage room at the Archives Center are approximately 145 letters of John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. The letters were written in the 18th and 19th centuries and are valued on the open market at between approximately $5,000 and $12,000 per letter. Also included among the documents at the Archives Center are various letters written by past presidents of the United States, including Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, to various Methodist Bishops and other important Methodist figures.

“It is a sad day when a student at one of our nation’s learning institutions pilfers great cultural and historical resources, rather than respects and learns from them.” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

Items stolen include twenty-one pieces from John Wesley, and several from U.S. Presidents including Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, FDR, Eisenhower and Nixon.

Scott sold many of the letters to leading dealers throughout the United States and as far away as England, it was reported. The F.B.I. is in the process of attempting to retrieve the stolen items. According to the agent in charge the F.B.I. will try and help the dealers involved get refunds.

Anyone who has purchased items from William Scott during the last few months, or sent checks to his home address in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, should contact Signature Arts, Inc. via eMail at j.bruce@sigartsinc.com. We will put you in touch with the F.B.I. Special Agent in New Jersey who is handling this case.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Michael Jackson autographs, be careful!

It’s come to my attention that there is a flood of very good but not authentic Michael Jackson pieces being sold. With the very hard work of authentication community we have started the breaking up of a very large ring of non-authentic items. We did catch these early so they have not got out of hand yet but would probably get by a lot of dealers and some authentication services.What I will do here in this article is show you what the non-authentic ones that are being mass produced look like. I won’t tell you what makes them not right as then the persons doing these will try to fix it. We do know the origin of where these started coming from and are working on catching the people red handed.




To the common collector these may look authentic but they are not. They are all signed by the same person and in my expert opinion do not believe it is Michael Jackson. These are not being sold a little bit at a time either. These are being sold sometimes in big lots and you have to buy all or none for prices that are just to low to believe. If you have any doubts whatsoever contact a dealer or authenticator that you have a relationship with and ask their opinion. It might be the best $15 you ever spend.

As always “be careful”
James Bruce

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

James Spence Authentication (JSA) Simply No Excuse For All The Mistakes

We have not been publishing all the mistakes this company has made lately because we feel our readers got the message on this so called autograph authenticating group.

However, when a group like this hit’s a new low the story needs to be told. Currently listed on eBay item # 110412169299 for $499 is a letter said to be signed by Warren G. Harding.

ANYONE who collects items signed by the presidents of the United States would know that the signature on the bottom of this letter is secretarial. And a well documented secretary at that. Reference books on presidential autographs and educational articles have been written about this "very common" secretarial signature.

It certainly appears as if the authenticators at this company either just don’t care, do no research or are just dysfunctional.






Harding Secretarial Signature mis-authenticated by JSA and his team of authenticators
as an authentic Harding Signature




llustrations of Harding Secretarial Signature and Authentic Signature from a common autograph reference book

It certainly appears this autograph authenticating business has become more of a scam than anything else.

JSA (James Spence) who likes to use the phrase "Follow the Leader" is not only responsible for this blunder but takes it one notch lower with extreme incompetence.

Look at the illustration of the signature closely. Notice the oval coloration starting at the capital "H" and ending near the "g" in Harding’s last name? One of the half wits working for Spence placed the JSA Certified sticker on the back of the Harding letter basically right over Harding’s signature.

By the way, the presidential/political authenticator for James Spence authentication is none other than John Reznikoff of University Archives. Anyone surprised?

Friday, March 5, 2010

When The Good of the Hobby Needs to Come Before the Almighty Dollar!!

This duo, the RR Auction/Reznikoff gang is at it again.

We have heard from several knowledgeable collectors and dealers complaining about the authenticity of items in the RR Auctions February 2010 sale from presidential signed items to sports celebrities signatures. We will focus on just one item in this story since the item is so well documented.

It is a shame, even a disgrace, that some people still try to authenticate presidential autographs when they have failed at it so often and so miserably in the past. The latest Reznikoff/RR Auction mistake has been brought to our attention by a handful of collectors and dealers. It is the Lyndon B. Johnson The White House card in the current RR Auction, item #79.

We know for a fact that Bob Eaton and some of his staff at RR Auctions have been notified early in the last week of January in writing that this Johnson signature is NOT genuine. RR Auctions has NOT responded to any of the emails from collectors and dealers and several days later, as of Feb. 1, the item is still listed for sale. This item has 12 bids and is now at $1,433.00.
The sale is over on February 10th.



Item #79, February 2010, RR Auction
being sold as genuine yet bearing a non-authentic
signature of Lyndon B. Johnson

In the past, with the information available at the time, the signature on this card was believed to be genuine by two people; Mike Minor who owned the card and Charles Hamilton. Minor believed that of all of the similar LBJ cards that have turned up, his was the only known genuine example.

Mike Minor was called by autograph expert Stephen Koschal, and Minor was told the signature of LBJ was not genuine. Koschal walked Minor letter by letter through this signature explaining in detail why he believed the signature was NOT genuine and Minor agreed. Minor stated that in an upcoming new printing of his book From The President's Pen, he would make the correction about this LBJ card.

In the very popular autograph reference book, The History of Collecting Executive Mansion, White House and The White House cards Signed by the Presidents and their First Ladies by Stephen Koschal and Lynne Keyes, the authors illustrate and devote a full page to this exact card. Koschal also made front page news about this same card in the journal of the International Autograph Collectors Club and Dealers Alliance, Vol.#5, No.4, July/August 2001.

Most importantly, most educated collectors and dealers are well aware the incompetency of most third party authenticating companies. Does it surprise anyone that Bob Eaton of RR Auctions and John Reznikoff of University Archives are part of the authenticating team of both PSA/DNA and JSA, James Spence Authentication?

There are ten more days before this auction ends and many are watching to see if the almighty dollar trumps selling genuine autographs with this auction house.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Authentication Stickers Affixed by Morons?

Much has been said about affixing unsightly self-advertising autograph authentication stickers to autographed material. Nothing said about it is positive. One of our last articles had someone who is a member of one of the high profile companies that claim to authenticate autographs returning an autographed photograph because it had one of these stickers affixed to it. The company he is listed as an authenticator places these type stickers on original autographed items.

No one to date has come to us advising how these horrific stickers can be removed form an autograph without damaging the original item. Many collectors would like to know?

This sticker fiasco begs the question of all our readers. PSA/DNA has added this sticker to the original 1930's card and basically has ruined the originality of the 80 year old collectible card. What happens if some person wanted to submit the card to PSA/DNA for grading? Maybe, they'll just grade the front of the card!

The following is a copy of a email from one of our educated readers and how he feels about the sticker atrocity:


From their new 2009 Goudey baseball product, they have inserted original Goudey cards that were autographed. As you can see, PSA/DNA has attached their sticker to an original 1934 Goudey card. What a bunch of morons!


Original 1934 Goudey Baseball Card Defaced by PSA/DNA Authentication Registration Sticker